Supporters say it is a bold step toward ensuring Florida's future growth and is guided by good planning and stimulates economic development in rural areas.

A satellite image of Florida at night, provided by the Sierra Club, overlayed with the three proposed toll road corridors as described in the bill.(Photo: Special to the Democrat)

Senate President Bill Galvano’s ambitious road-building program to secure Florida’s future growth has been derided by environmentalists as a 340-mile, $1-billion “Toll Roads to Nowhere” through farms and forests from the edge of the Everglades to the Georgia border.

Now that the bill is on the governor’s desk, a coalition of 90 environmentalists, citizen groups, and businesses are reminding Gov. Ron DeSantis of his commitment to bring about “an emergence of a Teddy Roosevelt-style Republican party here in Florida” and kill the bill.

“It is the worst bill for Florida’s environment we have seen in more than 20 years,” said Frank Jackalone and Timothy Martin of the Sierra Club in a joint statement.

Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida called it a gift to all the developers who gave to lawmakers.

“Billionaire land developers are looking to cash in on their big campaign contributions to Florida’s legislative leaders,” he said near the end of session.

Supporters say bill is an investment in Florida's future

Supporters — which include the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Trucking Association — are encouraging DeSantis to sign the bill into law.

They say it is a bold step toward ensuring Florida's future growth and is guided by good planning, stimulates economic development in rural areas, and creates additional hurricane evacuation routes.

The Interstate 75 Alligator Alley toll booth.(Photo: file photo)

“Infrastructure and transportation projects produce jobs and economic activity and have significant effects on our state’s ability to keep pace with our population demands," said Tom Feeney, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida. "We applaud the Florida Senate and House for ensuring our state’s infrastructure can keep up with future demand by passing legislation that would connect Florida’s cities via three new corridors."

Even Craig Fugate, the former FEMA Director under President Obama, endorsed the roads plan.

"No one wants Florida to turn into a state that builds haphazard roadways, destroying our unique, natural lands," Fugate said. "With the planning and connectivity this legislation provides, our residents will be able to safely and efficiently travel the roads, and evacuate when needed, while preserving our green land.”

A Florida toll road(Photo: WTSP)

DeSantis has 15 days to sign it or let it roll into law without his signature.

"He is reviewing it and recognizes the need for these roads," said Helen Ferre, the governor's director of communications. "He is more interested in making the right decision than a quick decision."

If signed into law, it would be the biggest and most ambitious highway construction plan Florida has seen since the 1950s. The bill would create three Multi-Use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance, or M-CORES, regional planning corridors spanning hundreds of thousands of acres from East Naples to western Jefferson County.

Task forces would be created for each corridor made up of representatives from state agencies and other stakeholders to conduct environmental and land use impacts and come up with a written report by Oct. 1, 2020.

“These new infrastructure corridors will help Florida strategically plan for future population growth, revitalize rural communities, and enhance public safety, while at the same time protecting Florida’s unique natural resources and habitats,” Galvano said in a news release after the bill's passage.

Supporters would have to come back the following year to secure the remainder of the money outlined – about $140 million a year totaling $1.1 billion over 10 years.

“Florida taxpayers will pay over $1 billion for these needless roads over the next decade,” Jackalone and Martin said. “Money that could be spent on relieving our actual highway congestion issues will now instead be funneled into ... miles of toll roads that will create massive sprawl and traffic.”

Nothing supports the need for these roads, Deborah Foote of the Sierra Club said. In fact, a 2016 Florida Department of Transportation task force on relieving congestion on Interstate 75 recommended adding lanes to existing highways instead of creating new roads.

Florida has more than 700 miles of toll roads, more than any other state.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

What’s worse, the projects don’t address existing congestion problems in South Florida, Orlando or Tampa Bay, she said. Instead, the opposite would occur.

These new roads would create congestion where none currently exists, Foote said. And the roadways would create access for developers to rural and agricultural lands, break up wildlife habitat and pollute the many rivers, springs and lakes in the areas and degrade environmentally fragile coastal areas.

But Sen. Tom Lee, the Thonotosassa Republican who shepherded the bill through the Legislature for Galvano, pointed out during session that a lot of Florida's transportation dollars have already been funneled into the state's urban regions.

“With this program that we will come up with, we are looking beyond those urban areas to some of the areas in our state that have not benefited equally from some of the economic growth that we’ve experienced here in the state of Florida," Lee said in a report by Florida Watchdog.

Pinpointing the location, impact of the new toll roads

An interactive map produced by Defenders of Wildlife shows the corridors and the regions they could impact.

The Southwest-Central Florida Connector would begin at I-75 in Collier County and wind its way north to I-4 in Polk County. The road could wind up anywhere within a 50-mile swath along its 150-mile-long corridor. It includes Highlands Hammock State Park and a large part of the Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand.

The Suncoast Connector would extend the Suncoast Parkway some 150 miles from just south of Homosassa to near Lloyd in Jefferson County. The corridor is bordered by State Road 19 on the east, I-10 to the north, and I-75 to the east. It contains some of Florida’s most beautiful springs and outstanding waterways, including the Aucilla Sinks, Ichetucknee Springs State Park and Suwannee River State Park.

The Big Bend Sierra Club is planning an Aucilla Sinks hike on Saturday, Nov. 18.(Photo: Special to the Democrat)

The Aucilla River and Wacissa River watersheds are two of the states’ outstanding Florida waters, said Neil Fleckenstein, Red Hills planning coordinator at Tall Timbers in Leon County.

“These water bodies have outstanding resources, and are important culturally and ecologically,” Fleckenstein said. “You would be hard-pressed to find a route that doesn’t have adverse impacts.”

The Northern Turnpike Connector would extend the Florida Turnpike 40 miles west from where it now merges into I-75 at Wildwood, cross the Ross Prairie State Forest and connect to the Suncoast Parkway.

“These highways will encourage sprawling growth,” Fleckenstein said. “You’ve got a very broad cone indicating where it might go. We have vital archaeological and natural resources that could be affected. You could have significant impacts to those resources.”

Kaylee Tuck, a real estate and land use attorney practicing in Lee County and a resident of Highlands County, said these areas are long neglected and overdue for revitalization.

"Our rural communities have some of the lowest populations in the state, having fallen behind during the last decade of economic growth," Tuck said in a news release. "By connecting our rural communities to metro hubs, the economic benefits of this legislation would be realized far and wide – all to the benefit of Floridians and the Sunshine State.”

What's the cost?

Building these toll roads would also likely bypass viable communities with mom-and-pop stores like Homosassa Springs, Crystal River and Chiefland. Those small businesses can’t compete against the national chains that wind up at interchanges, she said.

“Doing rural economic development via highway construction is not an effective way to accomplish that, especially if the roadway projects hurt people’s ability to get to those areas,” Fleckenstein said.

Manatees can be viewed at the “fishbowl,” and underwater observatory at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park,where you can view manatees face-to-face through glass windows.(Photo: ROBIN DRAPER/FOR FLORIDA TODAY)

Developers who need roads to their properties donate right of way in exchange for access, Foote explained.

Environmentalists are also skeptical about whether enough toll revenue will be generated to pay off the $1.1 billion bond that would be put up to build these roadways. FDOT estimated toll revenues from the Suncoast Parkway would be $150 million by 2014, but only $22 million was raised. The revenue estimate for 2019 is $30 million.

And the cost could be exorbitant. Suncoast was $10 million a mile, but Wekiva Parkway with all its bridges came in at $40 million a mile.

If toll revenues can’t cover the tab, then money will come out of the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, which collects all toll revenue from around the state and redistributes it.

Another concern is that the 2009 motor vehicle fee increases to cover up for the shortfall in general revenue due to the recession would go into the Transportation Trust Fund if this bill is signed by the governor.

“We could be spending that money on other things, like education and health care,” Foote said.

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Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this online story misidentified Tom Feeney as executive director of the AFL-CIO.